Digvijaya refuses to take blame for Mayawati's Congress snub
New Delhi, Oct 3 : As BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday ruled out an alliance with the Congress for the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan Assembly elections, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said he stood by his comments that she was under the Centres pressure not to ally with his party.
Digvijaya Singh, a former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, also dismissed Mayawati's accusation that he had "sabotaged" the BSP-Congress alliance.
Mayawati had denied Digvijaya's claims that she was under a "lot of pressure from the Centre because of which she did not want an alliance with the Congress".
The senior Congress leader pointed out that the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister had earlier made her intentions clear by announcing an electoral pact with Ajit Jogi's Janta Congress Chhattisgarh for the Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh.
"When Mayawati addressed a press conference with Jogi (September 20), she categorically said that she will not align with the Congress and went ahead to declare her party's alliance with Jogi and even announced contesting 22 seats in Madhya Pradesh unilaterally," Singh told a TV channel.
Asked if his statement on Mayawati triggered her latest snub, Singh said: "Nationally, central agencies have been let loose to suppress the voices of every political party or person who is not with the BJP or has criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi or his government."
The Congress leader added: "We will be very happy if we have an alliance with the BSP. At the national level, I have always supported the idea that all parties opposed to the BJP-RSS ideology should come together to defeat them."
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
